Steering mechanism.



M. L. WILLIAMS. STEERING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAE. 9, 1908.

1,026,728. Patented May 21, 1912.

2 SHEBTSSHEET7 Gillorzzeg M. L. WILLIAMS.

STEERING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.9, 190s.

Patented May 21, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' UNITED STATES MARTIN L WILLIAMS, OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA.

STEERING mncrmmsm.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1912.

Xpplication filed March 9, 1908. Serial No. 420,012.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN L. WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city of South Bend, in the county of St.

Joseph and State of Indiana, have invented 1 certain new and usefulImprovements in Steering Mechanisms, of which-the following is aspecification.

This invention relates toimprovements in steering mechanisms and refersmore particularly to an improved steering mechanism for motor vehicles,but which, however, may be used in vessels and the like without materialchange in construction.

Among the salient objects of the invention are, to provide aconstruction in which, by the simple expedient of mounting a universalor gimbal jointmechanism directly upon the periphery of a ball-racering, which is in turn fixed upon a rotatable shaft, concentricallywith, but inclined to, an axis of the shaft, a direct and powerfulrocking movement of an actuating crank may be secured by the expenditureof a minimum amount of manual force, while, at the same time, thedriving engagement of parts with each other will be both of extendedarea and of such character as to minimize wear-play and lost motion; toprovide a construction in which anti-friction devices may be and areinterposed between those parts which perform the greatest travel uponeach other, and these devices are so arranged that there is a completecir-' 3.5-eumferential series of contacts at all times,

as distinguished from contacts at one or two points only therebyenabling the set of balls and races to successfully withstand thepounding back-thrust of the controlled 40 wheel; to so arrange theanti-friction devices that notwithstanding the minimizing of friction,any manual force required to hold the steering head immovably aga1nstback-thrust orback-lash will be shght; to

provide a construction in which the within workin parts are fullyincased and still may, i desired, be made to operate submerged in oil;to provlde a construction which lends itself to ready adaptation tovarious machines and positions; and, in

general, to provide an extremely durable and eflicient mechanism of thecharacter referred to;

The invention consists in the matters pointed out in the appendedclaims.

The invention will be' understood from the followlng description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is anaxially sectional view of the steering head, in one of i s simplestforms; Flg. 2 is a similar view c" a modificatlon in which the actuatingclmk is offset relatively to the steering head crank and drlven by gearconnections from the latter; Fig. 3 is a sectional detail taken on l1ne3-3 of Fig. 2, and looking in the directlon of the arrows; Fig. 4 is anoutside v1ew of the part shown in Fig. 2 viewed from below.

In the drawings, 1 designates the steering staff which is tubular and isrigidly attached at the upper end to the hand-wheel 2. The staff extendsinto a bottle-shaped casing 3, inside of which is arranged a set ofballs 4 in which the staff is journaled.

On the staff, inside the casing is rigidly .fixed a ring or disk 5inclined relatively to the staff but concentrically mounted thereon. Tocooperate with this disk, a member 6 is journaled to its periphery, butheld against rotation with the disk, from which it follows that saidmember must have a true gyratory movement and is hence hereafterreferred to as the gyratory. member.

The preferred construction is as follows: In the disk is formed aV-shaped ball-race 7 surrounded by, a similarly groovedcircumferentially split race-ring 8 forming a part of the member 6, witha set of balls '9 interposed. The cooperative members are thusanti-frictionally connected and the inner ring 8 of the gyratory' memberpositively gyrated. The member 6 is provided atdiametrically oppositepoints with radial trunnions or stub shafts (see Fig. 3) 10, 10, whichare journaled in suitable journal openings in an outer yoke ring 11.Said trunnions are, for convenience of construction, formed on segments12, grooved at the inner sides to receive the ring anddetachably butfixedly mounted on the latter. The

stub shafts 14, 15, which engage journal openings in the outer casing;the axes of the trunnions 14, 15 being at right angles .to that of thetrunnions 10 and intersecting the axis of the shaft 1. On the end of theshaft 15 is rigidly mounted the crank 16 which actuates the steeringknuckles, being to this end provided with a suitable wrist 17 to whichthe connecting rod is attached.

To prevent the hand-wheel from being turned a complete revolution (whichmay lead to mistakes in steering) stops are provided; these stops beingconveniently formedby the opposite edges 18 of that part of the interiorof the casing which incloses the ball bearings 4. The gyratory memberencounters one or the other of these stops at the limit of itsoscillation in each direction.

The stafi 1 is provided with the usual internal staffs or shafts l9 and20 inclosed one within the other, and respectively terminating in cranks21 and 22, adapted for connection with the sparking and carburetermechanisms respectively. Said shafts are provided with the usualcontrolling levers l9" and 20" respectively.

In operation, rotation of the hand-wheel 2 rotates the staff 1 and withit the inclined disk or race-ring 5. The gyratory member journaledthereon is thus positively oscillated and so imparts a positiveoscillation to the crank arm 16. I

In Figs. 2, 3 and 4 the construction is modified to the extent necessartolocate the main actuating crank in rear (f and in offset relation tothe main st LE and the sparker and carbureter cranks above the lower endof the steering staff. For this purpose, the casing 3, which incloses agyratory member is formed as an offset shaft supporting frame rigid withthe main tubular casing 23, which incloses and supports the lower endportion of the main staff. On the lower end of said staff, inside thecasing 23, is mounted a bevel gear 24 which meshes with a correspondinggear 25 keyed upon a short angle shaft 26 journaled in the casing 3.Shaft 26 carries a disk or race-ring and gyratory member constructed inthe same manner as the corresponding parts of the previously describedconstruction and hearing the same relations to the axis of the shaft 26.The shaft 26 is in fact merely an extension of the main staff, set at anangle to the latter and geared to rotate therewith. Incidentally, gear24 is made somewhat smaller than gear 25 so as to effect a speedreduction between the main staff. and shaft 26, with a correspondingincrease of leverage and larger movement at the handwheel. In a similarmanner a pair of concentric shafts 27, 27 7 are journaled in an uprightfposition in an extension 28 of the casing ame 23, and operativelyconnected with the corresponding shafts 19 and 20 by intermeshing pairsof segments 29 and 30, and 31 and 32. v The shafts 27, 27 carry cranks21, 22', corresponding to the cranks 20 and 21 of the firstconstruction. The operation of thisv mechanism is, of course, preciselysimilar to that of the construction first described.

It will be understood that the several objects of the invention arefully attained in the constructions described. In both modifications thepower is transmitted to the gyratory member through bearings, preferablyanti-friction, so arranged that they at all times have completecircumferential engagement with each other and hence will not wearrapidly or disintegrate the race-ways under the back-lash or poundingwear. The fact that the plane of oscillation of the gyratory member isvery nearly at right angles to the plane of the actuating disk obviouslyenables a very slight restraining force applied to the handwheel to holdthe steering train absolutely immovable in spite of the fact that theparts have anti-friction bearings substantially throughout. The diameterof the periphery of the actuating disk is large and the trunnions oraxes of the gyratory member are supported at widely separated points,from which it follows that lost motion is reduced to the minimum. Thecasing and the manner in which the several moving .parts are journaledtherein permit the mam operative parts to be submerged in oil if sodesired.

Other modifications may be made without departing from the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a steering mechanism for automobiles, the combination with a mainshaft, of an annular bearin member mounted there- 'on in a plane obliqueto a plane at right angles to the shaft and having a ball race, a bearinring provided with a ball race upon its inner periphery and extendingexteriorly around said bearing member, a set of balls interposed betweensaid races and extending around the same, trunnions carried by the outerperiphery of the bearing ring, a yoke ring provided with journalbearings in which said trunnions are seated, stub shafts extending atright angles to said trunnions and carried by said yoke ring, arelatively fixed member in which said stub shafts are seated, a crankrigidly connected to one of the stub shafts, and leverage mechanism foractuating said main shaft.

2. In a steering mechanism for automobiles, the combination with ashaft, of an annular bearing member thereon mounted in a plane obliqueto a plane at right'angles to the shaft, a continuous bearingringextending around said bearing member, opposed segments fitting over theperiphery of said ring and secured thereto, trunnions car-, ried by saidsegments, a yoke member extending around said ring and'having journalbearings in which the said trunnions are seated, stub shafts on saidyoke member mamas extending at right angles to said trunnions, a casinginclosing said parts and provided with bearings for said shafts, one ofsaid shafts extending through the side of the casing, and an operatingmember connected to said latter shaft.

3. In a steering mechanism for automobiles, the combination with ashaft, of an annular bearing member thereon mounted in a plane obliqueto a plane at right angles to the shaft, a continuous bearing ringextending around said bearing member, trunnions carried by the peripheryof said ring, a yoke member extending around said rim and havingbearings for the trunnions sai bearings having removable caps to admitthe trunnions, stub shafts carried by said yoke member, a casinginclosing said arts and provided with bearin for said s afts, one ofsaid shafts extendmg through the sides of the casing, and an operatingmember connected to said shaft." 7

4. In a steering mechanism for automobile s,-the combination with ashaft, of an .annular bearing member mounted thereon in a plane obliqueto a plane at right angles to the shaft, a continuous bearing ringextending around said annular bearing member and operatively engagingthe same throughout its circumference, trunnions car ried by saidbearing ring, a movable yoke member connected to said carried by saidyoke, a closed casing inclosing said operative parts and having j ournalbearings for said stub shafts, and a part to be connected to one of saidstub shafts.

' MARTIN L. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

BERTHA ESHLEMAN, J. R. Anew.-

ring, stub shafts

